The police decided to (selectively) enforce one of the laws in this country. While I think that this whole incident is absurd, one problem I have is with people (friends of mine) saying that tattoos are illegal in Korea. As the author of that article points out but then somehow ignores, tattoos are not illegal in Korea; what's illegal is for someone who's not a medical doctor to give someone a tattoo. You wouldn't say that Botox is illegal because only medical doctors can inject it, and it's sloppy to say that tattoos are illegal for the same reason.

I'll say this again, differently this time, because some people on this forum have a tendency to straw man other people's arguments: I don't think you should have to be a medical doctor to give tattoos. While it's true that such a hurdle is a significant barrier to entry, it's not accurate to say that tattoos are illegal in Korea.

I'll say this again, differently this time, because some people on this forum have a tendency to straw man other people's arguments: I don't think you should have to be a medical doctor to give tattoos. While it's true that such a hurdle is a significant barrier to entry, it's not accurate to say that tattoos are illegal in Korea.

De-facto illegal then? The law is clearly there to create an entry barrier that is essentially insurmountable.

Reason it's pseudo-illegal is that in the past it was heavily associated with the mafia. Most older Koreans, if they see a tattoo on a young man, they'll think he's part of the mafia (usually the guy is covered with tats), and women are assumed to be prostitutes.

Wait, so every tattoo shop I've seen has a doctor on staff? Or is it not really enforced?

...a Korean who went through medical school and then forwent practicing medicine or plastic surgery to instead tattoo people would probably be an interesting person to chat with...

Edit: I definitely should have read the article first, there are a lot of little gems in there.

The article wrote:

Billy DeCola, 38, is a tattoo artist from Vancouver, BC. He was doing a tattoo convention in Toronto when someone told him Ink Bomb was “a really good show” and that there was a “huge tattoo culture (in Korea) and that it was kind of underground.”

“It seems to be pretty cool,” he said of Korean tattoo culture. “I kind of like the fact it’s a little bit underground. But when I saw the cops barge in today, that wasn’t cool. I do not want to go to jail in Korea. I like fish and all, but fish heads and rice for the rest of my life is not going to cut it. And I don’t know what the penalty is for that infringement.”

After I assured him he wouldn’t go to jail for life for giving a tattoo, he added, “I don’t want to be that guy they make an example of.”

But as DeCola spoke, he got angrier and angrier, until he changed his mind completely. “I’d like to be the first one to tattoo,” he declared, a minute after fearing a life of fish head soup. “I want to get arrested. *beep* that. I do want to be that guy.”

Bit of a roller coaster ride.

Jillian Robbins, of White Lies Burlesque Review wrote:

“Our group act at the end of the night was cancelled,” she said. “That really sucks because we prepared this group show, sewed costumes, choreographed stuff, met up for weeks, and then we didn’t even get to do it. And we bought all the stuff for it, too, and a lot of it is perishable, because we were going to use chocolate and cream and cherries.”

Clearly they should have bought Easy Cheese.

Martina, of "Simon & - fame wrote:

Martina Stawski, of the Eat Your Kimchi blog, was apoplectic....................
Stawski had big plans for the day, but those were cancelled along with the convention. “We bought lawn chairs, prepared a picnic and everything,” she said.

Not the picnic!

One of the organizers? wrote:

“*beep* the police,” he said. “That’s all I’ve got to say. This is fucked up. This is a show to show people that (tattooing) shouldn’t be illegal. It’s art.”

I actually wanted to check this show out but forgot when it was happening. Seems like if the goal was awareness / stigma reduction, the event should have been more of an exhibition of tattoos as an art form. Having actual tattooing by non-doctors seems like flaunting an illegal activity. The shutdown shouldn't have been much of a surprise...

Having actual tattooing by non-doctors seems like flaunting an illegal activity. The shutdown shouldn't have been much of a surprise...

I don't agree. Considering all the laws that go unenforced in Korea (look at all the motorcycles driving on the sidewalk and running red lights even when the police are around), including tattoos (tattoo parlours have big signs up and are on main roads), I can see why the organisers wouldn't expect to get shut down.

I was a bit miffed that it was shut down for Sunday. I wanted to see some of the Japanesse artists do their thing. I've got a few that I got from an incredible artist here in Korea, but he keeps his studio whereabouts on the DL.